Democrats’ Blind Obsession on Russia-gate

Exclusive: Instead of focusing on President Trump’s poor policies – or fixing their own shortcomings – Democrats obsess over Russia-gate, though the case is flimsy and reeks of McCarthyism, as Daniel Lazare explains.

By Daniel Lazare

Democrats are jubilant now that “Trumpcare” has bit the dust. But they should be careful because Russia-gate, the pseudo-scandal that they’ve latched onto in hopes of driving Donald Trump out of office, is also flashing red. The more they ignore the warning signs, the greater the odds that they’ll go down in flames as well.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, following his address to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 28, 2015. (UN Photo)

Russia-gate, of course, is the story of how the Kremlin allegedly used surreptitious means to hijack the American political process and place a “Siberian candidate” in the White House. It purportedly started five years ago when, according to the famous Christopher Steele dossier, Vladimir Putin foresaw that Donald Trump would become president and set about turning him into a compliant tool of Russian interests.

The Kremlin supposedly threw sweetheart real-estate deals his way (although a lucrative hotel plan never materialized for unexplained reasons) and fed him valuable intelligence about his opponents, all the while blackmailing him with a secret video showing him cavorting with prostitutes at Moscow’s Ritz Carlton.

Then, at the height of last year’s election, Russia was said to have followed up by hacking Democratic National Committee computers and releasing thousands of private emails to WikilLeaks in order to embarrass Hillary Clinton and tip the contest in favor of Trump. This audacious effort succeeded when Trump eked out a victory by virtue of the Electoral College. As a result, Vladimir Putin now controls not one presidential office but two, one in Moscow and the other in Washington, DC.

It’s a cool story about treason, international intrigue and hot babes, but it’s no more convincing than “Birthergate” was seven or eight years ago. Putin would have required superhuman powers to predict that Trump would become president at a time when no one other than “The Simpsons” thought he had a chance. The “golden showers” episode, in which Trump’s female hires supposedly urinated on the same bed that Barack and Michelle Obama used on one of their official Russian visits, is unverified and probably unverifiable as well.

The dossier also contains obvious errors and non-sequiturs, as Consortiumnews’ Robert Parry points out, e.g. placing Trump attorney Michael Cohen at a meeting with a Russian official in Prague, a city that Cohen says he’s never visited, or crediting Putin with stirring up resistance to Obama’s proposed Pacific trade deals when opposition had been building for years on its own. The fact that Steele, an ex-MI6 agent, has been in hiding since January does nothing to enhance his credibility.

But yet another flaw concerns the DNC hack itself. Although everyone from The New York Times to the neo-lib hipsters at Vox accepts the story as gospel, it is in fact gone into a nosedive as a growing army of cyber analysts, Internet sleuths, and other Doubting Thomases probe its most obvious contradictions.

‘Confirmation Bias’

One line of attack concerns the question of “confirmation bias,” the tendency of investigators who are already inclined to blame Russia to zero in only on evidence supporting their point of view. When DNC officials discovered that their computers had been compromised, they did what anyone in such a situation would do: they called their lawyer, in this case a former federal prosecutor and cybercrime specialist named Michael Sussmann.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking with supporters at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, March 21, 2016. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)

Sussman, in turn, called an old friend named Shawn Henry, former head of the FBI’s cyber division and now president of an Irvine, California, cyber-security firm known as CrowdStrike. Henry contacted his chief technical officer, Russian-born Dimitri Alperovitch, who sent over a team of investigators. Within the day, the CrowdStrike team concluded that the intruders were Russian government operatives.

It sounds as logical and objective as obtaining the name of a top-flight medical specialist and then scheduling an appointment. But the resemblance is misleading. For one thing, cyber sleuths are not objective. As even The New York Times admits: “Attribution, as the skill of identifying a cyberattacker is known, is more art than science. It is often impossible to name an attacker with absolute certainty.”

Hence, it’s more like obtaining the name of a faith healer than a physician. For another, this particular group of cyber sleuths seems to have been even less objective than most.

Like any enterprise, CrowdStrike is in the business of convincing potential customers to purchase its services. Hence it had an incentive to blame the email loss on a dark and spooky Kremlin conspiracy rather than something more mundane such as an internal leak.

As an ex-Soviet who emigrated to America as a teenager, moreover, Alperovitch was particularly inclined to blame Russia first. As he once told a reporter: “A lot of people who are born here don’t appreciate the freedoms we have, the opportunities we have, because they’ve never had it any other way. I have.”

The Soviet-born journalist Yasha Levine, who covered the 2008 Russo-Georgian War over the breakaway province of South Ossetia, recalls that the air at the time was thick with charges of Russian government cyber warfare, none of which proved true, and that Alperovitch “was one of the minor online voices supporting the idea that the cyber attacks against Georgia were some kind of Russian plot.”

Since then, Alperovitch has joined forces with the Atlantic Council, a hawkish Washington think tank funded by the U.S. State Department, NATO, Ukrainian exiles, Persian Gulf oil exporters, and U.S. arms manufacturers, all with interests hostile to a sensible and constructive approach to U.S.-Russian relations.

Indeed, the Atlantic Council has been a spark-plug powering the New Cold War with Russia and maintains close ties with Clinton and her supporters. In 2013, it gave her its “distinguished leadership award,” and in 2015 it recruited her to give a major address kicking off its “Latin American women’s leadership initiative.”

The Atlantic Council also chose ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a major Clinton ally, to head a Mideast study group that echoed Clinton’s call for a Syrian “no-fly zone, “a proposal that would almost certainly lead to a direct U.S.-Russian military clash.

So the Russophobic Clinton camp hired Russophobic Dimitri Alperovitch, both linked via the Russophobic Atlantic Council, to find out who hacked the DNC. To absolutely no one’s surprise, they decided that Russia was it.

Sloppy Methodology

But CrowdStrike has come under criticism not only on the grounds of bias but methodology. Critics have noted that the firm’s report on the DNC hack was loaded with weasel words suggesting that Russian intelligence was guilty without quite coming out and saying so. It argued, for instance, that hackers were so sophisticated that they had to be state supported:

Former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger at an Atlantic Council event.

“Their tradecraft is superb, operational security second to none, and the extensive usage of ‘living-off-the-land’ techniques enables them to easily bypass many security solutions they encounter. In particular, we identified advanced methods consistent with nation-state level capabilities including deliberate targeting and ‘access management’ tradecraft – both groups were constantly going back into the environment to change out their implants, modify persistent methods, move to new Command & Control channels and perform other tasks to try to stay ahead of being detected. Both adversaries engage in extensive political and economic espionage for the benefit of the government of the Russian Federation and are believed to be closely linked to the Russian government’s powerful and highly capable intelligence services.”

The hackers’ methods are so “consistent with nation-state level capabilities” that they “are believed to be closely linked” to Russian intelligence. But does this mean that they, in fact, connected? The report didn’t say. A few weeks later, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz admitted that proof was lacking when he told Bloomberg News: “We talk about having high confidence, but there’s no absolute in cyber security, and that’s one of the things that makes it so hard.”

An earlier report by a California cyber security firm known as FireEye was equally evasive. In 2014, it declared that the hackers show “evidence of long-standing, focused operations that indicate a government sponsor – specifically a government based in Moscow” – which in turn “suggests that [they] receives direct ongoing financial and other resources from a well-established organization, most likely a nation state government.”

Indicates, suggests, most likely – this was no more than speculation. When a hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0 released another batch of Democratic Party documents a couple of days later, DirectThreat, yet another cyber-security firm, concluded that the intervention “most likely is a Russian denial and deception (D&D) effort” aimed at throwing investigators off the track.

The reason had to do with telltale traces that Guccifer 2.0 had left behind, specifically a document uploaded in a Russian-language format by someone calling himself “Felix Edmundovich,” an obvious reference to Felix E. Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka, as the Soviet political police were originally known.

For the Kremlin-done-it crowd, this was proof that Russian intelligence was involved. But this led to another objection: if the hackers were so super-sophisticated, how could they be guilty of such an elementary mistake?

Referring to two of Russia’s top intelligence agencies, Jeffrey Carr, a well-known cyber-security expert, was unable to restrain his sarcasm: “OK. Raise your hand if you think that a GRU or FSB officer would add Iron Felix’s name to the metadata of a stolen document before he released it to the world while pretending to be a Romanian hacker. Someone clearly had a wicked sense of humor.”

Sam Biddle, The Intercept’s formidable tech writer, was equally dismissive: “It’s very hard to buy the argument that the Democrats were hacked by one of the most sophisticated, diabolical foreign intelligence services in history, and that we know this because they screwed up over and over again.”

As Gregory Elich noted in an excellent roundup on Counterpunch, disguising the origin of a hack is trivial even for beginners. Referring to half-baked amateurs, James Scott, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, pokes fun at the very idea of cyber-sleuths claiming to know where one originates:

“It’s common knowledge among even script kiddies that all one needs to do is compromise a system geolocated in Russia (ideally in a government office) and use it as a beachhead for attack so that indicators of compromise lead back to Russia. … Want to add another layer? Compromise a Chinese system, leap-frog onto a hacked Russian machine, and then run the attack from China to Russia to any country on the globe. Want to increase geopolitical tensions, distract the global news cycle, or cause a subtle, but exploitable shift in national positions? Hack a machine in North Korea and use it to hack the aforementioned machine in China, before compromising the Russian system and launching global attacks. This process is so common and simple that’s its virtually ‘Script Kiddie 101’ among malicious cyber upstarts.”

Government Ineptness

After the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a report on Dec. 29 alluding to “malware” used in the DNC attack, Mark Maunder, CEO of Wordfence, Seattle-based makers of a popular computer-security program, joined with a colleague named Rob McMahon to try to track it down. Working through the night, they discovered that the malware was an early version of a publicly available program known as P.A.S. that had been developed in the Ukraine.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (right) talks with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, with John Brennan and other national security aides present. (Photo credit: Office of Director of National Intelligence)

This was strange, they recounted, since “one might reasonably expect Russian intelligence operatives to develop their own tools or at least use current malicious tools from outside sources.”

Maunder and McMahon also examined 876 Internet Protocol addresses used by the hackers provided by the Department of Homeland Security and found that the largest number originated in the U.S., followed by Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and China. Some 15 percent were TOR exit notes of unknown origin since they are designed to be anonymous.

“The IP addresses that DHS provided may have been used for an attack by a state actor like Russia,” Maunder and McMahon concluded. “But they don’t appear to provide any association with Russia. They are probably used by a wide range of other malicious actors….”

In other words, proof is nowhere to be found. The only certainty about the DNC hack is that certainty is unwarranted. CrowdStrike’s credibility meanwhile took a major hit after it published a report in December claiming that Russia had used the same malware to hack an Android app that Ukrainian artillery units used to target Russian-backed separatists, a feat that enabled separatists to turn tables on the Ukrainians by pinpointing their location instead.

As a result, CrowdStrike wrote, “Ukrainian artillery forces have lost over 50 percent of their weapons in the two years of conflict and over 80 percent of D-30 howitzers, the highest percentage of loss of any other artillery pieces in Ukraine’s arsenal.”

Unfortunately, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies complained that the company had misused its data in coming up with such figures while the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said that the hacking and resultant combat losses had never occurred at all. Yaroslav Sherstyuk, the Ukrainian military officer who developed the Android app, called the CrowdStrike report “delusional” in an angry Facebook post.

So when CrowdStrike’s findings were put to the test, they failed. Skepticism is therefore in order no less than during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq when the intelligence community lined up solidly behind reports that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction Iraq – and Clapper, at the time head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, said that the Iraqi dictator had “unquestionably” spirited them over the Syrian border when no WMDs were found.

Democrats certainly have much to criticize. They could go after Trump for sabotaging the fight against global warming, for cutting everything from the National Endowment for the Humanities to the National Institute of Health to add more money to the Pentagon’s budget, for unleashing violence on immigrants, or for escalating U.S. military intervention in the Middle East. Instead, they’ve seized on Trump’s call for a rapprochement with Russia, one of the few semi-sensible things he said on the campaign trail. And the Democrats have made it the centerpiece of a hate-Putin campaign straight out of Orwell.

But if the story of a Kremlin hack of the DNC goes, then precious little of Russia-gate will remain beyond a dubious memo and a few innocuous meetings with the Russian ambassador. The more the Democrats push this latest Washington pseudo-scandal, the more they risk joining the GOP on the political trash heap. Trump could well end up as the last man standing amid the rubble.

Daniel Lazare is the author of several books including The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy (Harcourt Brace).

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143 comments for “Democrats’ Blind Obsession on Russia-gate”

Kevin Beck

April 4, 2017 at 18:02

This attribution to Russia of “hacking” the Democrat National Committee’s computer network to throw the election in favor of Donald Trump is so silly that it is starting to turn absurd. Every claim that has been made has been more forcefully rebutted, that it is becoming a farce of epic proportions.

Now that Senators Graham and McCain have thrown in the towel against the Russians, we know that this is a well-planned Deep State operation, with President Trump in the path of the charges.

Halit

April 4, 2017 at 00:10

Irony is CIA role is to interfere another countries elections, owerthtow democratically elected gaverments,interfere their economy,sabotaging just about everything if suits American higher national interest.
Intellectually and just about everything else they are no match to RUSSIANS so all they can do stay enemy.

mark

April 3, 2017 at 21:04

These Trump haters are all batshit crazy.

Gary

April 4, 2017 at 15:19

No, they’re not. Two things about Trump. One, he’s not stupid like most of you would like to believe. Two, Bannon is the smartest guy in whatever room he goes into. Underestimate Trump at your peril.

Susan Sunflower

April 3, 2017 at 14:26

The Democrats have infantilized their voters for so long … going back to the Clintons on 60 Minutes in 1992 and 1997’s “Vast right wing conspiracy” (as if there were not by that point legions of quite ordinary Clinton doubters and Clinton-haters) … Still they sell the fairy tale of Bill and Hill Clinton who, like Jack and Jill, went up the hill to the outrage of the elites who set out — in “true populist fashion” — to destroy our “saviors” …
The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has now simply gone international (and no specifics are required) … but in a world where many believe(d) that Bush invaded Iraq because “he tried to kill my father”… we can believe that Putin sought revenge for Clinton’s whatever …
I’ve seen several people mention in the last week that the Democrat’s forumation that Trump voters were duped by Russia … and Sanders voters into chosing Bernie … and of course Green Voters into voting for Stein … that not only are Americans easily “duped” but that our elites are helpless to protect us … and most significantly, Hillary Clinton lacks the kryptonite necessary to counteract the force of the Putin …
Someday, some may realize that they too will be just as quickly disowned and name-called (stupid, racist, sexist, dupe.) if they step out of line and that the rigors of such ideologic purity are suspiciously confining …
I had read Tom Franks specifically and other more generally talking about “smug” liberals, elitist liberals, and this last election cycle and its aftermath has proven those points in spades, to a depth of belief in liberal superiority that secessionist talk wrt to California, and the Paciific Northwest recurs, gleefully, stupidly, simplistically. The most recent precinct by precinct election map released last week shows just how dire the Democrat’s predicament really is http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/3/23/15032488/climate-beliefs-2016-election-votes

I suspect that most liberals and democrats live in “blue” areas, surrounded by others-like-them to a degree that their imaginary “state of the union” is at least as off-kilter as the evangelicals in their red bible belt …

Dave

April 3, 2017 at 13:41

For over two months I have been telephoning politicians (primarily neoliberal Democrats) and media types and telling them that the Democrats’ manufactured hissy fit over Russia-gate and Vlad the Putin is a bigger hoax than Piltdown Man. Unfortunately, it took more than four decades to unravel the Piltdown flimflam. Whether human society and the global environment can survive forty-plus years to rectify the damage caused by the likes of Adam Schiff and Democratic Party warmongers and its allied presstitutes such as Rachel Maddow is problematic. Incidentally, the D.C. Congressional switchboard can be accessed toll free at 1(866)338-1015 should anyone care to contact the jackasses who inhabit the hallowed halls of Congress.

Michael Kenny

April 3, 2017 at 12:39

“Russiagate” certainly scares some people but I don’t see why it should scare the Democrats. How would removing Trump from office, whether by impeachment or (more likely) by resignation, benefit the Democrats? The sole beneficiaries would be Mike Pence and the Republican establishment. The Democrats are out of the White House until 2020 at the earliest and cannot alter their position in Congress until November 2018. Trump is making an almighty mess of the presidency and Mike Pence might turn out to be a good president! Keeping Trump in office thus actually helps the Democrats. At the same time, “no evidence” is an argument for a court of law, not the court of public opinion. Unless and until both Trump and Putin prove their innocence, the charges of disloyalty and election rigging will stick to them. People will simply say “they got away with it because they were able to cover their tracks”. Thus, a “no evidence” situation is no “threat” to the Democrats but actually suits them perfectly. They don’t have to prove anything but the rumours will persist (“nothing was ever proved, but …”). Either way, Trump and Putin come out of this looking dirty.
The other point where I would disagree with Mr Lazare is his assumption that Trump’s offhand remarks about a “rapprochement with Russia” were seriously meant. Since taking office, he has done nothing favourable to Putin and quite a few things unfavourable to him. Actions speak louder than words!

My last post on this topic, before overdoing it. I believe, however, that it is worse than Watergate, particularly since the point in history at which we’ve arrived. I believe the intent of the whole thing is to bring down Trump. The twists of this have become unbelievable. And with Clinton announcing herself in some speeches as waiting in the wings to come back and “save us”, what next the path in this labyrinth? At the time of Watergate, the press pretty much did its job, now it’s controlled corporate.

Zero Hedge reports today by a Swedish reporter that crime in Sweden has reached unbearable proportions, and NYT is claiming this is untrue. Islamic immigrants have overtaken several communities and have caused such an uptick in crime that people avoid certain places, women are afraid in their houses. Corporate media including NYT will not report this. The unemployment rate of the immigrants is 5x that of Swedes. The refugee problem is caused by the nightmare of the wars started by Bush admin and continued by Obama. All these issues are balled up together and show a very messed-up world. Putin in a speech in Russia not long ago stated that if immigrants are to live in Russia, they are expected to follow Russian laws and learn Russian, not expect that Russia will adapt to their requests for Sharia law. Russia also received a very large number of immigrants from Ukraine after the US set up the putsch there.

Joe, i totally agree that many types of music are worth listening to, of course. Domination by corporate types of music producers has throttled the creativity we used to get from so many of the older greats such as Beatles, Cream, Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Pink Floyd, many more too numerous to mention. Dylan’s “Masters of War” lyrics are the greatest antiwar lyrics ever written, to me. It needs to be sung again! In fact, at the time of the Iraq invasion by the US and “allies”, a group in Colorado performed it and there was immediate response to suppress it further.

I think we are really at a pivotal point in history.

Bill Bodden

April 2, 2017 at 23:20

The story out of Washington and the corporate media is that the Russians influenced the election. If so, they must have been working on this project BEFORE the election. Why didn’t anyone call them on it then? No one knew? Why then are the taxpayers being rolled for billions of dollars and paying for the highest technology in the world and out intelligence (?) agencies didn’t know anything about it until the losers in the Democratic (?) party started belly-aching?

Jurgen

April 3, 2017 at 01:44

A very good question. If the NSA headquarters only employs between 30000 and 40000, one can’t help wonder what are they needed for if they could not prevent any of now known major hacks.

Wm. Boyce

April 2, 2017 at 21:52

I’m glad the author thinks there is no fire where there is smoke. Perhaps he is right, perhaps not. If a real investigation is ever done, we shall see.

Russia – gates!?
If Trump was elected by the Russians, the election and security services are jokes!
Any hacker can elect an American President !?
If this happened, the NSA, CIA and FBI formally charge and present the evidence!
If not, let the informers be arrested and punished!
Wake up America! Let’s go, the world is waiting!

This is the best thread CN has had and I go back to it to see new comments, because this issue has to be put to bed finally or it will consume us. How could you send a letter to the editor if you didn’t read the article? Or take an exam without cracking a book? I am baffled.

But thank you, Gregory, I can’t get up that interview with Maria Z until my iPad comes back with my friend. I enjoyed how she crushed the arrogant Samantha Power several times. And thank you, J’Hon Doe, for the interview with Robert English. And Joe, i certainly agree that music is the language that speaks to all; not for me, though, the cacophonous type which has gotten too prevalent. I have to have my daily dose of Rachmaninoff, I thank the universe for his gifts.

Joe Tedesky

April 2, 2017 at 20:23

For starters you just taught me a new word ‘cacophonous’, and it takes a special kind of score to produce a reasonably appropriate harsh sound to enhance the music. A lot of my hard metal rock friends are huge listeners of classical music, and if you can bear it and if you listen carefully to the chord structures in a lot of it you may notice the similarities between the two genres. There was a time when I could read sheet music 27 bars ahead, and with this talent I was made first drummer in a orchestra where I played the Tiffany drums. Although I always returned to small combo style groups, and pop music was my thing, I’ve loved any kind of music to be honest. I will admit though at times when I’m driving or a lone I like listening to orchestrated classical music, because while listening to this genius conducted arrangements I conjure up some pretty nice scenes of life and many other things in my head. Ground control to Major Joe. One more thing the best thing that ever happened to the Beatles was George Martin, and Mr Martin by far was a musicians musician.

Realist

April 3, 2017 at 00:59

“Cacophagy” literally means shit eating. “Cacophony” must, by direct comparison, mean shit sounding, though it is usually politely referred to as discordant sound.

Bob Locke
“I didn’t read this article. Sorry. But I disagree that the case is flimsy; so why read past the first sentence?
… but that is my own perception.”
::
Scholar: Moscow Sees Hypocrisy in Allegations After U.S. Interfered in Russian Elections in 1990s
MARCH 31, 2017

It does not take a climate scientist or even a particularly bright bulb on the street to see that the real enemy is Capitalism unrestrained by the requirements of functioning Planetary life support systems, which is guaranteed mutually assured destruction. When dollars are sacrosanct to Planetary life support systems, what other outcome can be expected? Socially enabled capitalism is clearly a failed paradigm. Help end tax funded pollution of the commons for starters. Our tax dollars are funding a Planetary ecocide future for the children of ALL species. There is no difference between Russian $$$, USA $$$ or any other tax funded pollution profiteer $$$ anywhere in the world. Capitalism the world over profits from war.

“War becomes perpetual when used as a rationale for peace,” Norman Solomon.

“Peace becomes perpetual when used as a rationale for survival.” Yours truly.

Joe Tedesky

April 2, 2017 at 14:23

There is no better an example of what you said than the ignorant abuse of the Dakota Access Native Americans who wish to preserve our water rights over oil spills that ruin our ecology and water.

You haven’t read the article? You haven’t read any of the comments by people who have been following this months-long saga? Do you know the details of why there are many people who do not believe this story? Are you aware of the CIA history of paying off people to foment unrest in other countries? It’s well documented and very long in history, sadly, but perhaps like my relatives, you wouldn’t read it, too disturbing.

Bob Locke

April 2, 2017 at 12:05

I didn’t read this article. Sorry. But I disagree that the case is flimsy; so why read past the first sentence? Consortiumnews has been so relentlessly anti-this-huge-story that I keep wondering if consortiumnews has its own pay-offs from Russia. Very sorry to say this about this news source that I have always valued but that is my own perception.

D5-5

April 2, 2017 at 12:26

You might learn why the case is flimsy?

Gregory Herr

April 2, 2017 at 13:15

So substantiate “the case”. Still waiting.

Gene Poole

April 5, 2017 at 08:18

If you didn’t read the article, you shouldn’t comment on it.

Kim Nguyen

April 2, 2017 at 10:34

Side note: The Atlantic Council connection may well be key to maintaining undying hysteria about congressional “investigations” : It is a zionist “think tank.” Political divisions and chaos are gold to them.

No sense of humor, they do not like to be mocked. I’ll bet that message was set up by Maria Zakharova, Russia’s savvy Foreign Ministry spokesperson, she’s great. Satire can be used very effectively in activism, one of the best ways to challenge a viewpoint is with satire; Voltaire, 18th century French writer was a master of it, making fun of pedantic intellectuals and bigots in his plays and essays.

mike k, just saw your last comment; yes, CN is a really good forum and we all learn from so many good comments, CN is the best! I’m still laughing at Realist’s comment that “Obomber could be particularly snotty while feigning civility”. So true..

Dave, I just saw your latest response. Yes, unfortunately there is a dreadful lack of openness to many cultures, not least of them being Russian. My absolute favorite music composers are Russian, and many of the literary classics are Russian. Something about that long and turbulent history, in a very cold climate and the beautiful ecology of the steppes, has to have led to their depth. America has a very short history, unfortunately dominated by some very terrible events, the near genocide of the native peoples who lived here first, then followed by enslavement of African and other dark-skinned races, basically a history of dreadful dominance.

Jessica a close friend of mine was a back up singer with Billy Joel when he toured Russia back in 1987. I remember when my friend returned from that tour, and his hearing his impression of the Russians back then. My friend said the Russian audiences were no different, and maybe even neater than their American pop music counterpart. All music is great, but not all tunes or songs are necessarily always that good, but music may possibly be the language of the Angels. Although I have a bias once being a musician I think many listeners will agree.

Realist, I got some chuckles from your really good observations, while hearing the Chicago Symphony perform Sergei Prokofiev’s very clever and exuberant Symphony 1. Your comments fit very well with the music. (Note that Prokofiev is a Russian! Well, was, incidental note, he died on the same day as Stalin and so his death wasn’t noted for a week. )

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 21:50

I have to say that the comments thread here on CN is the most civil, intelligent, and informative that I have taken part in. Thanks to all of you for making it that way. I am learning a lot here.

Darlene, I don’t know who you’re addressing, but it seems clear that commenters on CN aren’t falling for the propaganda now renamed as “fake news”by the “fake news” journalists of corporate media. CN has even made the distinguished list of PropOrNot as purveyors of “fake news”, meaning that corporate media are paying attention to sites who challenge them such as CN. The larger problem is breaking through the stranglehold the national security state has created on the general populace who get their news from TV and they aren’t the folks commenting here, because there are many, many conditioned people drinking the Kool-Aid but they’re not here.

John

April 1, 2017 at 20:58

The USA better start the great war soon…..The us dollar is going to take a serious hit because of the plans of Russia/China. The readjustment in the USA will be unbelievable and devastating …….better use those US federal notes to purchase hard assets….the clock is ticking…….

The Clinton/Soros MO has ALWAYS Been to attack the messenger in order to detract from the Message….This has been going on for ages and Media, politicos, etc who owe their wealth to the Elites…have always put forth this “fake narrative”.’…It is time to absolutely report and make the truth available….Crowdstrike that put forth the Russian narrative has been discredited and is closely linked to HRC and the FBI used them as their “credible source”…..Charles Ortel has all of the evidence we need to know about the Charity Fraud that is called the Clinton Foundation…yet NO ONE has interviewed him on Fake Stream Media. The death of Monica Peterson was linked to exposing the Clinton Haiti child trafficking…she is dead…the death Of Seth Rich was linked to exposing the DNC release of documents to Wikilkeaks…he is dead…YET NO ONE pursues these investigative reporting stories>Why? Because money corrupts and Journalists are paid well to report FAKE NEws…Stop watching them and call them out…Charles Ortel, George Webb, are just the beginning of who I CHALLENGE YOU TO DO THE RESEARCH…STOP BUYING THE Fake Globalist news….Start researching for yourselves…Fake Stream Media reporters make at least 30,000 dollars/day.

A beautiful summary of Russian history and other Eurasian ones interacting, Dave. I take issue on Putin’s characteristic, however, as “not a likeable person”. From what I have read, he is more what I would call “inscrutable”, he does not “let it all hang out”, show his emotions so readily, quite different from Western behavior. Which makes him more likely to be labeled by the West, which thinks it has the right to judge other cultures. The Russian people, as you say, are a unique culture and should be accepted as such. America needs to grow up. Putin is obviously very intelligent, has advisors who are intelligent surrounding him. He is also very environmentally concerned, unlike those in charge here.

Realist

April 1, 2017 at 21:32

Putin is a throwback to the middle of the 20th century when leaders of all nations, and indeed of all important endeavors, were expected to be a “serious” man, i.e., intelligent, well spoken and well informed, not like today when the most important trait any leader, at least in the West, can put before the media is to be affable, or “likable” as Obomber said of Hitlery in an instant analysis of his ’08 competition. Also, the right mix of self assurance, even cockiness, with the ability to deliver “zingers” against the opposition is also highly respected by the masses. Study the personalities of Slick Willy, Dubya, Obomber and now Trump. See the similarities? Obomber could be particularly snotty while feigning civility, especially when trash-talking Putin and Russia. All kept a steel fist in a velvet glove. Back in the day, you didn’t have to give a warm and fuzzy interview on the chat shows to become a front-running candidate for your cause. “Tricky Dick” Nixon, though smart and competent, was especially clumsy at schmoozing the media. In fact, they hated him, which went a long way toward getting him impeached (if he hadn’t resigned first). That all changed, at least in the West, when Reagan brought Hollywood into the process of arriving at our leaders. Russia, China and plenty of other countries are still old school and prefer competence to superficial charm. Truth be told, some still prefer thuggery to either of those things.

Dave

April 1, 2017 at 22:18

Realist: I completely agree with you. I have been a life long active progressive democrat. After destruction of Libya, and the start of destruction of Syria about six years ago, I quit this democratic party politics in disgust. Obama turned out to be a very slick, clever, and sophisticated Con Man, there ever was in Politics. He turned out to be the exact opposite of what we thought.

I watched him (Obama) on TV in January mocking Putin, and degrading Russia. I usually do not curse. But I still feel angry when I think of Obama on TV that day. And I have to say Obama (this S.O.B.) must be a very shallow person. He did not write those two books. Some body wrote for him. There was some article in “Counterpunch” about this about two months ago.

Dave

April 1, 2017 at 21:51

Jessica, thanks for your clarification. I understand it. Actually, what I wanted to say was that he (President Putin) does not come across comfortable sometimes in front of the TV during his speeches. Among Major Powers in the World, he is the only Statesman left. It is not my opinion only. I have friends and relatives living in Canada, U.K., Asia, and mainland Europe. They all think highly of him. Here in U.S., the World Opinion means people of Western Nations only. The rest six or seven billion humans do not count as people. Their opinion does not count.

I read somewhere about Suzzane Massey saying that Russians are People of the Heart. It is so true. I have loved Russian Literature all my life. Massey was an informal massenger between Gorbachev and President Reagan. I think she is the author of book Nicholas and Alexandra. She was on RT recently interviewed by Sophie Shavardnze or may be by Oksana Boyko, I forget now.

Joe Tedesky

April 2, 2017 at 10:28

Putin always gives me the impression that he has a well balanced diet, and he keeps his sugar intake low. When I read his speeches I hear a level headed person, whereas when I listen to American politicians I get an ear ache listening to the hacks as they throw out over hubristic sound bites to whip up the masses…that’s not leadership, that’s entertainment for the fools who want to buy into it.

Dave

April 3, 2017 at 21:38

Putin’s speech at the 2007 European Security Conference in Munich, his speeches at the Valdai International Discussion Club (2014-16) are excellent. His press conferences and interviews with the journalists are very informative. He comes out as a very well read person.

Zachary Smith

April 1, 2017 at 19:51

Repeating what others have already mentioned:

“Comey: DNC denied FBI’s requests for access to hacked servers”

The FBI was inexcusably negligent in relying on Crowdstrike’s analysis. That’s because Crowdstrike has demonstrated it makes stuff up out of thin air.

I’m obviously no fan of Donald Trump, but the Privatized US Intelligence Agencies must not be allowed to take him down. After all, “Privatized” is just a backdoor way of saying they’re controlled by Rich Guys. I’ve noticed that an awful lot of Rich Guys are either Zionists-For-Israel or Christianists-For-Israel.

Israel couldn’t get Hillary, so the little apartheid nation is quite willing to settle for Mike Pence.

Dave

April 1, 2017 at 19:39

I have read books on Russian History, and have read many of the books written by Russian writers Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak, Sholokov, and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn. Russia has a very tragic History. Being the eastern most European People, they faced many very brutal Mongol invasions in the thirteenth century. As many Russian Writers/Historians point out that Russia saved Western European civilization by facing the Mongol invasions from the East. Then subjugated by Tatars (Mongolian/Turkic people) of the Steppe, they paid annual tribute to them for more than two centuries. They did not develop like Western Europe; they got influenced by Asians cultures as well. They have been repeatedly attacked from the West. After the despotic rule of the Czars, they suffered through the Bolshevik and Stalin’s terror, during which all private property ownership was abolished, and land collectivized. During the first World War with Germany, they lost more than five million people. In the Second World War, they lost more than twenty five million people, and most of the European part of the country was utterly destroyed. With the sudden break up of the Soviet Union, under the corrupt, alcoholic, charlatan President Yeltsin, the Russian State almost collapsed. Russia needed some help to build new institutions; it’s people needed some rest from their nightmare.
But history does not work that way. Western Europe has been looking for this for a long time. Now they got the opportunity to go at the (wounded) Bear – as they call Russia. And of course, EU, NATO is run by U.S. President Putin is not a likeable person. He is not a smooth, slick PR/TV performer like Obama. Russian State completely collapsed three times before. And each time they resurrected it. Whatever one may think of Putin, he has saved Russia again, fourth time in their history, after almost complete collapse during 1991-2000 period. He is authoritarian, and may be that is what Russia needs at this time of their history. (Peter Hitchens discusses this issue in the Lecture/Question session at Keele University)
Western European Nations and U.S. are Imperial powers. Just 60 or 70 years ago, most of Asia and Africa were the colonies of Western Nations. They lost control of those possessions (for a while only). The West is fighting to reassert its’ complete control over those Asian and African Nations again, make them some sort of economic colonies under this Neoliberal World Economic Order run by U.S. and Western Europe. Emerging China is the real threat. Russia, and the Central Asian Nations are the gateway to China. Once they fall, China is next. And Chinese understand it. Russia is the weakest of all. As history of Western Imperial Nations tells us; they are going to go after Russia. This is not new; this is in the book by Zbigniew Brzezinski, “The Grand Chessboard”. Kissinger has similar philosophy in which China is first on the list. So, survival of Russia this time as a Sovereign Nation is not very certain. They are a very weak nation, Militarily and Economically, compared to the West. If China stands by Russia, they will survive, otherwise they will be another Economic Colony of the West.
This “Russia- Gate” and all that what is going on is just a prelude to it. One has to read the history to see the methods and lies of the Western Nations, for almost five centuries now, to colonize those Asian, African, and South American Nations, and our own lies of Treaties with the American Indian Nations.
It may be entertaining for us to read these articles and write the comments, but it is not so for Russians. It is real for them. With NATO forces/Western Armies once again sitting on their borders, and this nonstop 24/7 “Russia Threat” nonsense going on in the Media here, they have to prepare to defend their Land, once again. They had no time for rest this time in their Sad and Tragic History.
P.S. – It was very instructive to watch the famous British Journalist Peter Hitchens on You Tube (Super Man) under the Title “EU is the continuation of Germany by other means”, Nov. 2015.It is a lecture and question answer session at Keele University during the Brexit debate .

Lisa, when Vault 7 Wikileaks was released a few weeks ago (was it 2 or 3?) it did come out that CIA could disguise their hacking as attribution to another foreign agency. It seems prying loose from their desires what the “investigators” wish to prove is difficult, they suffer from “confirmation bias”, they are bound and determined to “prove” what they want, clinging to their case like barnacles to a whale! Probably with your linguistic abilities telling them what you’ve interpreted, they would just ignore it.

Excerpt:
“The latest release is said to potentially allow for ‘thousands’ of cyber attacks to be attributed to the CIA which were originally blamed on foreign governments.
WikiLeaks said Marble hides fragments of texts that would allow for the author of the malware to be identified.
The source code released reveals Marble contains test examples in Chinese, Russian, Korean, Arabic and Farsi.”

The sample of Russian text was strange, at first I thought it was just a collection of random sequences of cyrillic letters, as it did not make any sense. And I know Russian quite well. Then I let “Google translate” identify the language and they came up with “Mongolian”! Yes, it actually looks like it. They use cyrillic letters also. For control, I tested Arabic and Korean, too, and “Google translate” identified them as Arabic and Korean.

Who is crazy? CIA cannot be so unprofessional that they would make such a blunder. Or can they?
At least this “leak” cannot be blamed on Putin, he, after all, knows Russian.

I just looked further into Laurence Britt’s “Early Warning Signs of Fascism”, which was published in Free Inquiry magazine during the Bush-Cheney regime, although he compiled it earlier by examining seven fascist regimes. He is or was a British businessman, not a political scientist as some claimed. But, because misinformation stated he had a doctorate, two debunking sites tried to claim the list should be discarded, after it had gone viral in 2004. It has gone all over the world online, which is the reason to debunk it, obviously. I would suspect the debunkers came from the CIA or NED or some other propaganda arm. What does it matter whether he had a Ph.D. or not?

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 18:11

Well said Drew.

Drew Hunkins

April 2, 2017 at 16:44

Thank you mike k.

Drew Hunkins

April 1, 2017 at 17:48

Never let it become lost in the miasma of deceit and misinformation that Washington has run by far the biggest imperialist terror operation of the last 70+ years.

This is not an indictment of the American people, most of whom would recoil in horror if they actually knew what was truly going on. The state-media nexus has been incredibly successful in hoodwinking and bamboozling the public on what the hundreds of US global military bases, scores of intell agencies and proxy forces are really all about.

One could argue that this dichotomy between what the American people actually think Washington’s up to abroad and what the Washington-Zio-Saudi Terror Network is really doing overseas is the greatest propaganda accomplishment in global history. The Russians don’t have 100s of bases around the globe, nor is it toppling independent state leaders, nor is it running massive propaganda against them using non-governmental organizations.

And of course it’s not “fake news,” “Russian disinformation,” or engaging in so-called “moral equivalency” to point out any of the aforementioned truisms. In fact, if anything it’s patriotic to wish that no more working class boys come home in body bags, that public treasuries be used for social programs benefitting the millions of struggling workers instead of frittering it away on Pentagon waste and abus that supports nothing more than military-driven empire building.

USA citizens are aware that many nations are attacked resulting in millions slaughtered. though it is correct that the average USA citizen probably underestimates the carnage by 90%.

Bill Bodden

April 2, 2017 at 13:33

Never let it become lost in the miasma of deceit and misinformation that Washington has run by far the biggest imperialist terror operation of the last 70+ years.

Native Americans might have a different take on that considering Washington’s terror operation in the form of ethnic cleansing after the founding of the United States/

Drew Hunkins

April 2, 2017 at 16:47

True, good point. But at the time when the Native populations of the Western hemisphere were being wiped off the map by Washington one could argue that the UK was the preeminent global empire. But I do understand where you’re coming from.

Skip Scott

April 3, 2017 at 07:34

Great comment, Drew. I am amazed at how many friends and family are ignorant of the war crimes under the Obama regime. Their eyes are basically shut when it comes to foreign policy. The drone strikes, the refugees flooding Europe, the senseless regime change wars, the millions of devastated lives; none of it sinks in. They just wave the flag and catch up on the latest celebrity gossip, or tune into a ballgame. Neil Postman of NYU wrote a great book years ago called “Amusing Ourselves to Death”. It really hits the nail on the head.

Drew Hunkins

April 3, 2017 at 11:54

Good points all Mr. Scott.
I’m familiar with the Neil Postman work but never got around to reading it. My pile of “to read” books gets quite unwieldy at times. Postman’s at my grad school alma mater (NYU) so I better get around to that one!

It’s online quite a few places, mike, I bought it as a postcard and keep it in my copy of “Rule By Secrecy” by Jim Marrs.

Now, as to someone’s comment about Trump’s possible Russia connections, Russia has a form of state capitalism. The old Soviet Union is dead, but apparently not buried as judged by the amount of fanatical reaction to the word “Russia”. Lordy, it’s a capitalist world! While HRC was Secy of State, through her department approval, the Clinton Foundation large donor, Frank Giustra, a mining entrepreneur from Canada, sold Russia 20% of the US stockpile of uranium. Now, why aren’t the Democrats investigating that?

Or $50 million dollar kickback to Clinton Foundation from Saudis after selling biggest arms deal in history to Saudi to enable destruction of Yemen

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 17:21

I keep rereading the list and realize it has most of the main signs. You could add obsession with torture, but it is probably there too. I am going to copy this list and pass it to my clueless friends, the ones that are still left!

So many of us are looking at this list realized in living color, and can’t see it.

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 17:15

A good check list. I wish more people would paste beside their TVs.

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 17:14

He did say media. My bad.

Andrew

April 1, 2017 at 17:13

While evidences of Russian influence on the election is flimsy, it is concerning that Trump is just dumb enough to be played by the Russians. How often has Donald tweeted information off of Russian media? We are talking about the idiot who’s hanged onto the birther claim for years and has moral principles of snake oil salesman.

When Donald continues to surround himself only with with his family and friends, and his in-law in the White House make hundreds of millions, I think it is healthy to look into the mess Trump is making. I do wish the investigation focuses on Trump’s financials rather than on the election though.

I am blind without my glasses or critical thinking. In my ethical system soliciting a $50 million kickback from the financial and idealogical creators of DAESH and the destroyers of Yemen and creators of Yemeni famine, in exchange for the largest arms deal in history is worse than any finacial corruption. H is better than no human.

Andrew

April 2, 2017 at 13:37

Well, you gotta choose your poison. I prefer the Italian Mafia over the Joker. Organized corruption that keeps the society running over complete chaos and reign of terror.

Honestly though, I would have liked Bernie.

Skip Scott

April 2, 2017 at 13:54

Hillary and Trump are just two different types of evil. At least with Trump the level of control by the intelligence agencies and the deep state is becoming apparent to a larger portion of the population. The more light that gets shined on this, the better off we will be. At present it really doesn’t matter who the president is. Once they’ve had their trip to the woodshed, they do the deep state’s bidding, or else. If we can survive Trump, and the deep state is dismantled or severely weakened, maybe the next president could really make a difference. I can’t say I’m all that optimistic, but it’s the only hope we’ve got at this point.

Powerful and continuing nationalism.
Disdain for human rights.
Identification of enemies as a unifying cause.
Supremacy of the military.
Rampant sexism.
Controlled mass media.
Obsession with national security.
Religion and government intertwined.
Corporate power protected.
Labor power suppressed.
Disdain for intellectuals and the arts.
Obsession with crime and punishment.
Rampant cronyism and corruption.
Fraudulent elections.

(Compiled by Dr. Britt some years ago, not sure when, several decades, I believe. Now, how many of those signs do we see today?)

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 17:13

All the signs are here Jessica. He might have included obsession with foreign enemies, persecution of minorities, fake media…..the list could go on and on……

Jurgen

April 3, 2017 at 00:15

Jessica, with all due respect the “Dr. Lawrence Britt” is a hoax, a fake. There’s no Dr. Lawrence Britt. This hoax has been out there for more than 10 years.

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 16:48

It’s really hard to think of anything worse than Trump.

Brad Owen

April 2, 2017 at 10:16

Hillary (we would already be sleep-walking our way into WWIII), Ryan, Rubio, Bush number 3, basically anyone from the R-Party clown car, basically anyone who stands with The Establishment ( Wall Street, The City, the Five Eyes, the MIIC, MSM, etc…).
He is the worst of the alternatives (Jill Stein, Bernie, Nader, and such-like). If you follow the news on Executive Intelligence Review, he’s not as bad as MSM makes him out to be (when or if EIR goes thumbs-down on him, that is when I bail, NOT before then). He stinks on domestic policy, but that is because he is surrounded by R-Party/D-Party cretins & cowards who piss on themselves, rather than cross The Establishment. He’ll probably be accepting of New Silk Road ideas (which is, precisely, THE “Dire Threat” to The Establishment) which will turn him, overnight, into a New Dealer, which will lead into establishing his reputation as one of the greatest Presidents, which is hilariously ironic. Coyote Trickster’s paw prints are all over this Saga. It’s like a Woody Allen comedy, with the Woodster as the unlikely hero.

Brad Owen

April 2, 2017 at 11:18

I just came back from the EIR website. They have this article up: The insurrection against the President, and it’s British controllers…or just who really is George Soros anyway? It covers the entire hundred years of Deep State intrigues (which EIR doesn’t dignify them with the Deep State monicker, due to their general incompetence and backwardness. They call them Blimps; meaning British Liberal Imperialists). It is an amazing short summary of just WTF has really been going on these last hundred years, ESPECIALLY, post-FDR). This agenda is operating still, at this very moment, and Trump is not onboard with it…not yet anyway.

Realist

April 1, 2017 at 16:35

People forget that the pollsters actually thought that Trump was the only Republican whom Hillary could beat in the general election. Both Ted Cruz and “Little Marco” were beating her by the numbers, as would have most of the other original 17 GOPer clowns with their hats in the ring. Her candidacy was so bad, especially after it got out that her minion Wasserman-Schultz had sandbagged Bernie, that she was destined to lose, except in California where it is forever three hours ago and they’re slow to catch on.

Let’s say that “Little Marco,” being a darling of the Baggers, the Neocons and the media, was nominated by the Elephants and unremarkably won the presidency on November 7th (I know, it makes me shudder too, especially since I see the clown in action every day down here in wild and woolly Fla.). Would the Donkeys be trying to trace his bloodline to Che Guevara or find his name in Fidel’s will? Because, because… this really can’t be happening! Leave Hillary alone!!! She is the last Jedi and humankind’s only hope! Don’t you fools see that?!

Get the picture?

Bill Bodden

April 1, 2017 at 16:42

Your dragging of Cruz and Rubio out of the cesspool is a reminder our current shambles could have been worse.

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 16:21

Realist you have it exactly right. This whole Russiagate scam has CIA written all over it.

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 16:16

And I know that the thought police are keeping their records, and sharpening their knives. But I for one will continue to speak my mind and the truth as I see it until the end. Amen.

Realist

April 1, 2017 at 16:13

Russian hackers? Ha! More likely CIA hackers out to frame the Russians. Like everyone else, they figured that Hillary was a lock to win the election and after winning she’d go all medieval on the Russians for trying to bust her chops. Right now she and the Dems are practicing Rahm’s dictum of never allowing a good crisis go to waste: they are trying to overthrow both Trump and Putin on one toss.

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 16:11

There comes a time in the affairs of men and women when we must call a spade a spade, or submit to being buried by it. There are many very evil people who have got our world into the desperate shape it is in now. We need to be clear that these people are in high places and conceal themselves behind all sorts of fake camouflage, pretending to be the pillars of society and the best of the best. These individuals are vicious and dangerous frauds. The more clearly they are unmasked, the better we will know who the real enemies of mankind are.

Carl Schubert

April 2, 2017 at 02:30

Mike’s lament is as old as man has been ruled by the rulers of our society. As long as the majority of us sheep is silent it will never change! This goes for all countries regardless of their politics or religion or whatever. These rulers may fight to the death between themselves ( with the sheep helping ) but in the end they find common ground amongst themselves again.

Bill Bodden

April 2, 2017 at 13:28

Carl: I have been saying something similar for years. It’s all part of the human condition. It is like the legend attributed to Benjamin Franklin. After the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia Franklin was alleged to have been asked, “What have you wrought?” The story goes that he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it” which suggest old Ben understood human nature. If he were alive today he might say, “I warned you people, but you didn’t pay attention. Did you?”

mike k

April 1, 2017 at 16:03

Anyone who trusts the “intelligence community” and it’s spies, disinformation experts, torturers, assassins, and crazy “patriots” needs to reread 1984 very thoughtfully. If we think our enemies are really our friends, we open ourselves to a most unpleasant form of blindsiding.

Mark Thomason

April 1, 2017 at 15:37

The real motive and greatest danger of Democrats fixation is to avoid learning the lessons of the election — the rejection of Hillary and her DNC donor crowd. Instead, they seek to do it again, excusing what failed to very likely fail again.

This second round of “McCarthyism” is far worse than the first, at least post WWII there were political ideological differences in play between communism and democratic capitalism. Until this vicious political drama is finally played out and the controlling war economy has to move to a different version of their control MO, this is stalemate.

This is creeping totalitarianism, and we are like the proverbial frog in the pot of water, slowly heating up unnoticed by the frog until the water is so hot that there is no escape for the frog. This is not only insulting to us intelligent citizens who have to witness this psychodrama day after day, it is downright vicious and dangerous. The tentacles of the National Security State are wrapping ever tighter. Trump with his enormous ego walked right into this and became a pawn in their game. The problem is a failing empire that still holds the keys to power.

It is good to see these repetitions in coverage of this monstrosity. Today I find them also at Counterpunch and Zero Hedge. A good question to ask is WHY?

WHY would the US intell agencies stoop to this kind of propagandizing and be fooled yet again, as they were in 03 and before that in 01 in their failure to defend attack on the Twin Towers? WHY such incompetence?

Why would Comey of the FBI present himself and the agency with such confidence and “high assessment”? This is particularly important because Comey’s FBI did NOT conduct an investigation to get at their assessment. They relied entirely on Crowdstrike, now as in this article and elsewhere over the past months discredited as a highly biased source.

One answer is the need to divert attention, or using diversionary tactics. We need to recall the desperate state of the Clinton campaign at the time of the DNC disclosures, what those disclosures revealed, and ask again WHY there has been no emphasis on investigating Clinton? With all the noise on Trump and Russia and a gullible public ready to believe anything authority says they should, Clinton has been so ignored she’s apparently thinking about re-emerging into politics. Clinton 2020? Don’t count her out.

Also, a second need to divert = to overcome Trump, displace him, get rid of him, this seems another answer to WHY. Trump is a rebel against the correct playbook, that is, the One World Globalize playbook. Not that he’s any better than the previous order, that’s by now obvious. But he presents an internal threat to that previous order, an internal fight–this is what we need to start concentrating on now, and trying to understand.

Bill Bodden

April 1, 2017 at 16:38

WHY would the US intell agencies stoop to this kind of propagandizing and be fooled yet again, as they were in 03 and before that in 01 in their failure to defend attack on the Twin Towers?

Why are they called intelligence agencies?

D5-5

April 1, 2017 at 20:22

Yes, this is the really tough pill to swallow. That’s not what they are. They’re political tools.

MEexpert

April 2, 2017 at 02:14

D5-5.

That is the $64,000 question. Why hasn’t Hillary Clinton not being investigated? Why indeed? Trump should order DOJ to start an investigation into Clinton’s connections to the foreign leaders as well as various donations made to Clinton Foundation. Not much has been said about the 20% of the US Uranium rights sold to Russia by the Clintons.

Ironically, Trump defeated Hillary because of his shrewd campaign in 2016 and Trump’s incompetency and emphasis on wrong topics will enable Hillary to be back in 2020. She has already come back roaring. Democrats have no other viable candidate. God help the United States.

Bill Bodden

April 2, 2017 at 13:21

Democrats have no other viable candidate

Make that: The oligarchs of the Democratic (?) party offer no other viable candidate at this time. In 2020 Clinton will be 73. If the party comes up with someone else he or she will probably just be another front for the same old oligarchy.

“You have reached the Russian embassy. Your call is very important to us. To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponents press 1. To use the services of Russian hackers press 2. To request election interference press 3 and wait until the next election campaign. Please note that all calls are recorded for quality improvement and training purposes,” the message says.

Lolita, the sad thing is that some people might actually believe this! Thanks for posting it.

Hilarious. We need more of that. Ridicule is the best way to trash the ridiculous. I’d love to see someone play that for Adam Schiff. They need to know that people with a brain are laughing at this nonsense. Of course, none of us will be laughing if they start a nuclear war with Russia.

incontinent reader

April 1, 2017 at 21:23

Vindicated? Briefly? Methinks it was an April Fool’s Day joke and they just got goosed.

W. R. Knight

April 1, 2017 at 13:06

It’s unfortunate that Lazarre spends so much effort on debunking Russiagate (which is obvious to most thinking people), at the expense of focusing people’s attention on the damage being done by the administration during this distraction. Democrats need to spend their effort on stopping the Republican agenda and forget about Russiagate which will accomplish nothing.

Bill Bodden

April 1, 2017 at 14:57

Democrats need to spend their effort on stopping the Republican agenda and forget about Russiagate which will accomplish nothing.

Where is the advantage in replacing one bunch of hypocrites and bought-and-and-paid-for Republicans with their counterparts in the Democratic (?) party?

rosemerry

April 1, 2017 at 16:50

True. It was hardly necessary to repeat all the excessive nonsense already too largely disseminated.

Brad Owen

April 2, 2017 at 09:05

The fact that the democrats waste their time on Russiagate, instead of blowing the whistle on the republicans’ dismantling of every social good that FDR-LBJ era democrats instituted, should tell us something. The Clinton-Era democrats have removed all things FDR/JFK/MLK/LBJ(except for war) from the D-brand Party, as in saying “the era of big government is over” (as if a Continental-sized country of 330 millions could even exist without a big government…such foolishness). It’s all one Party now. Somebody tell Bernie to step out and step up…if he is serious, that is.

Joe Tedesky

April 2, 2017 at 10:07

You are right on it Brad. Why the Democrate’s are missing the political opportunity of a life time. The Republicans are at this moment laying out a smorgasbord of issues, and what are the Democrate’s doing, why going down the rabbit hole of rabbit holes with this Russian thing. Good comment Brad.

richard vajs

April 3, 2017 at 08:09

Bernie is 75 years old. His days of running for President are over. His political take on how we should be governed is; however, timely and could be adapted by any of many “would be” leaders. This country (“Continental sized and with 330 million citizens”) needs a government that serves all 330 million and not just the 1%. The Clintons and their “celebrity” worshippers are dead meat. The cruel Republicans with their love of the rich and hatred of the poor, are in the batter’s box now and will also be dead meat as they screw-up in their guaranteed assault upon the poor. I am confident that Americans have enough appreciation for how wonderful this country can become again (as soon as we truly drain the swamp in DC)

Brad Owen

April 3, 2017 at 13:17

He can be Party chairman. His main value, besides his popular ideas, is his rolodex of 13 million small donors…which is more fitting for a genuine peoples’ party, where everyone contributes a smallish amount, like union dues, not multi-million$ from the billionaire donors’ club. All he has to do is raise HIS flag, to rally his base into an organized peoples’ party. The Greens will most likely fold all their assets into it. Invite Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich in also…that would be real high-octane stuff.

Spending a few hours researching anti-Trump rhetoric on social media would help you understand why this kind of analysis continues to be necessary. The whole narrative that the Russians “stole” the election from Clinton has been embraced by the politically ignorant to the point of cultism, and they attack like wolverines anyone who dares contradict it. And many of them are, under other circumstances, “thinking people.” However, they are also people for whom the idea a political party with centuries of tradition would have as its goal the eradication of the federal republic is the craziest of conspiracy theories. They are firmly convinced things will be fine once Trump is gone and Pence is installed “because at least he’s not crazy.”

The comfortable will always prefer to embrace ideas that don’t require they feel uncomfortable, no matter how absurd, and the majority of those who cling to Russia-gate are just that—people who grew up in comfortable middle-class homes and managed to land in comfortable middle-class jobs and whose lifestyle was affected little by the Crash of ’08. They were taught as much of American history and civics as was thought to be necessary, with a heavy emphasis on America the Beautiful and “my country, right or wrong.” It’s outside their grasp that said country is on the brink of becoming a neo-feudal plutocratic oligarchy.

D5-5

April 2, 2017 at 20:22

Elizabeth, a fine comment indeed. It seems to be Trump hatred at base, a deranged response based on the venom people have for him. I think it’s in the idea you don’t mess with a rattlesnake, you just assume the worst. No reasoning required.

Tom

April 1, 2017 at 12:36

I’m far more concerned about the nomination of Gorsuch to the Supremes than I care about this Russian kerfluffle. “Citizens United” and hidden big money is doing far more to destroy our democracy than this media blitzkrieg.

Skip Scott

April 1, 2017 at 13:44

Unfortunately it all ties together. The Russian kerfuffle was invented by the deep state because they feared losing their bogeyman if Trump sought detente. I believe the deep state controls all the SCOTUS, and their decisions, through blackmail, if necessary. Read the latest CN article by Binney and McGovern, if you haven’t already. Even under Obama, SCOTUS nominees all had one thing in common, support for the corporate will over the peoples will. They will allow wiggle room over social issues like tranny bathrooms, but no undermining of the oligarch’s power structure is permitted.

Miranda Keefe

April 1, 2017 at 22:41

Dear Skip,

I know you mean well, I mean the entire substance of your comment is really good material. But when you say, “social issues like tranny bathrooms,” it’s like saying, “social issues like faggot marriage,” or “social issues like n-word civil rights.”

I’m assuming you just didn’t know how offensive that term is considered by most in the Transgender community.

Thank you.

Joe Tedesky

April 2, 2017 at 02:12

Miranda it is always good to have someone amongst our crowd to straighten out some of us, who for one reason or the other haven’t quite keep up on our PC correctness. I also know that using such terms kind of comes with the turf you grew up on. For instance my Black friends who I made along the way by my being the drummer in an all Black music group and me, let all that stuff go a long time ago. Our being rude and distasteful was based upon the idea that, as long as you are laughing with me and not at me, then say what you will, but it better be funny or make a damn good point. Now it isn’t something to get carried away with, for that would be ignorant and if nothing else over the top and layered with bad timing….but when the time was right, then yeah tell me a Day-Go joke, and for the most part I usually found their jokes funny and not offensive to my Italian Grandma.

Sorry Miranda I don’t mean to preach, but you and I along with Skip are kind of in the over all picture of things all on the same team, and although I also think the Transgender people need to be cut a break I think that Skip has a point that our media and culture of our masses has spent more time on talking about bathrooms because us Americans have always been hung up on bathrooms unlike other parts of the world who don’t give a flying you know what about what bathroom you use that we lose track of what really plaques our planet…… ‘The Elite Banking System of the West’.

We should support the 1% that wish to live their life the way they want, while at the same time we should as a society come down hard on the 1% who want it all to themselves. I’m not going to lecture anyone on Political Correctness I get it, but I do want to draw attention to what Skip’s message was, and Skip is right, we Americans not only lose focus of what is most important to the over all condition of our societal mechanisms so much so that we can’t apply any priority or put emphasis on what should be important. To put our heaviest emphasis on the Bankers, the MIC, the MSM, the Government, would be all that’s needed to go forward with, and from there possibly a better world could evolve for all minority’s…wow gone with the Wedge Issues….now I’m getting carried away, but can’t we dream big?

So Miranda please forgive me, because overall you are as right as Skip is. I just wanted to steer the conversation back to the real enemy which is the ugliest segment of Wall St. which does everybody wrong. If we can corral these bulls and bears while at the same time diminish the homophobe then we will have won it all. Once again I’m a butinski (that’s not a Polish slur that’s the spell check I tried it with a y a couple times) but one who respects you all, and someone who wants to keep focused on these corrupt politicos who pollute our world.

For the record for some of the Tedeschi who came to America they changed the chi to a ski or sky. Also, although Italian in the 21st century in the 12th century it stood for ‘one from Germany’ like Tedesco which is related somehow. My people may have been brought down from Germany to Italy in the 12th century by Frederick I Barbarossa plus many other persuasions….think of this; if you had 4 grandparents then you had 8 great grandparents then with each generation you double the grandparent by the time you reach the era of Jesus your related to a couple million people…I guess, so watch it you maybe what you hate, or love and wanta be like,more all of the above. Crazy, that in the end we are all but one.

rattamento di tutte le persone con rispetto!

Skip Scott

April 2, 2017 at 07:21

Sorry Miranda, Joe is right that I haven’t kept up on PC terminology. I am a big fan of Chelsea Manning, for one, and wouldn’t want to offend her. My point was that sometimes I think the media over-covers these issues as a distraction from what I think are more important issues, like who really holds the reins of power, and makes the really important decisions concerning war and peace, life and death, education, income inequality, global warming etc, etc. As much as I believe in Transgender rights, I think we sometimes get absorbed in hot-button issues that impact a very small portion of the population. That this occurs is not happenstance, it is contrived.

Joe Tedesky

April 2, 2017 at 10:00

I’m with you Skip, I want to apologize to Miranda as well, because we need Miranda’s input. With Miranda around you and I may get some class.

You know what the media never talks about? How Hillary’s people put the screws to Bernie. It drives me crazy how the Democrate’s are piling on to this Russia did it theme, and not nailing Podesta and the Clintons to the wall for how they messed up getting a Democrate into the Oval Office. Talk about something needed investigated.

I also should have mentioned to Miranda how I’m not a good joke teller, and how I quit trying to tell all ethnic or any joke like an ethnic joke somewhere like over forty years ago. This includes nun jokes and why the chicken crossed to the otherside of the road humor. I’m sort of good at making people smile, but not very good at making them laugh.

So let’s all have a group hug, and go after the guys and gals who most disturb us….you know who they are.

Jack Reacher

April 2, 2017 at 19:39

Repent or burn in hell sodomite. How’s that for being polite?

D5-5

April 2, 2017 at 20:25

This is not the right place for your anger. Try somewhere else.

rosemerry

April 1, 2017 at 16:48

I agree, Tom. Gorsuch is just one of the likely future disasters to affect the USA for decades to come. Since 1970 when Lewis Powell started the real Chamber of Commerce campaign to rid the land of laws helping workers, the environment and legal rights for all, SCOTUS has managed to gut many laws. Since 2010 when bribery became the official “normal” to elect Congress members, many have tried to change the laws, but SCOTUS once it lost Scalia has a chance to change, but not if this Administration has its way.
(Jeffrey Clements’ book “Corporations are not People” has details on the campaign and its success. Powell was a lawyer helping the tobacco industry, among others, before joining the supreme Court)

Joe Tedesky

April 1, 2017 at 18:01

Here is the Lewis Powell memo that started the Right Wing Media Bonanza!

russia is a distraction to allow the oligarchs freeplay. we need all citizens all power of the oligarchs.

Sam F

April 2, 2017 at 05:48

Exactly right. “Russiagate” is enough to discredit the Dems forever, but it is WMDistraction to conceal the last rightwing revolutionary powergrabs.

Sam F

April 2, 2017 at 05:50

Yes, sadly the US judicial branch has become utterly corrupted. All judges work for pay-to-play party operatives (my expert knowledge is in Maine, Massachusetts, DC, Georgia, Florida, and California), and regard their job as the subversion of the Constitution and laws for private gain of party. The corruption flows downward from the Supreme Court, so it is fair to generalize to nearly all federal judges, although a few on the West coast have a better record. I haven’t seen any exceptions.

The judiciary cultivates the science of lying and nothing more. It becomes sharply more corrupt from bottom to top, and the fake judges at the bottom are trying hard to prove their ability to lie, cheat, and steal in judicial sounding tones. One would have to get rid of nearly every one of them to have a working judiciary.

The public is fooled by their own dream of a judicial Santa Claus who will set things right if they are wronged. If suspicious enough to read cases, they are fooled by judgments that simply lie about the facts: the public always assumes that the judiciary would not be so audacious. Lawyers are absolute dependents of the judiciary for survival, and many aim to be judges themselves, receiving bribes from the rich instead of legal fees from the poor. The mass media are also utterly dependent for survival upon the judiciary, who can easily throw a libel suit against critics. Those who know the truth and dare to speak are extremely few, and the public will never hear of them in mass media, and will never listen to what it dares not believe.

Bernie

April 3, 2017 at 21:34

amen brother. Trump lied big time when he stated during his campaign that he would strike down Citizen’s United. Gorsuch refused to answer questions put to him by Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island regarding his position on Citizen’s United or the impact of corporate money on elections and secrecy of funders. This can only mean that he supports corporate manipulation of our elections.

“The United States imposed sanctions on 30 foreign entities and individuals in 10 countries pursuant to the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA). These sanctions apply to the specific individuals and entities to be in effect for two years. The measure went into effect on March 21.”

“The list includes eight Russian entities involved in airspace industry and pilot training. No violations were specified. The decision runs contrary to the US president’s statements expressing readiness to joint together in the fight against the Islamic State (IS).”

“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss”. Convenient enemies for perpetual war for money drenched in blood of men women and children whose only crime was birth. God shed thy grace on thee, Stanley Ann Dunham

Peter Loeb

April 2, 2017 at 06:55

A GOOD MOVIE…BUT LIKE MANY A WASTE OF TIME

Daniel Lazare joins in telling and re-telling spy stories.

But to be honest, aren’t there more pressing concerns???

Will the elimination of regulations on the coal industry?
Why should wealthy investors put their money in the
REAL ECONOMY with employees, their needs such as
health care, decent income. That “real” (job producing)
investment would be way down on the list compared
to buying paper. i e speculation. That’s what the wealthy
do. They make many times what can be made on
job creating investments. It is not even “paper” but done
electronically, And you can buy so-called “insurance”
against losing your bet. CDSs. (“Credit default swaps”)
After which your profits can be hidden in one of the 27 tax
havens in which the IRS has no jurisdiction.

What they do know is the continuing lack of jobs in coal,
the continued lack of support in health care(brown lung
disease etc.), the lessening of supports through the
safety net which they now claim to hate as the ” cause” of their
ills.

Of course, some West Virginians may die in wars and
will be buried as “heroes”.

Will that be worth i it???

(See Jack Rasmus: EPIC RECESSION PRELUDE TO
DEPRESSION,)

It was basically the same story for the Obama Administration
who solution was tax cuts.

I wonder what the miners will think when no (or few) places
to work fail to appear?

Spy stories even when accurately debunked are in the
last resort a waste of productive investigative time.

—Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA

SteveK9

April 2, 2017 at 10:12

They are trying to use this ‘spy story’ to overturn a US Presidential election. That is not unimportant.

Catcher in the Wild

April 2, 2017 at 16:13

So will “mijkmijld” please explain the point of tacking the name of Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, on the end this…more than 2 months after Trump took over as “the new boss”. To blame her for Obama’s betrayal?

As a cia agent Dunham had much to do with creating the neocon flunky O. His seven wars and his acts of war sanctions plus all facsist laws NDAA 2012 , repeal of prohibition against domestic state propaganda etc. he agreed to. All this continues and enables T.

Jack Reacher

April 2, 2017 at 19:37

Uh uh muther fucker. Obummer used Bush for damn near six years as an excuse for all his decisions and the Republicans are going to take a page out of the Democrat playbook and do the same thing. Now go play with yourself and we will revisit this issue in down the road.